I could say more about this comic. I could talk about how it's no surprise that Tony isn't delegating combat missions; I could talk about Maya Hansen, who is so clearly going to be trouble somewhere down the line (I don't buy for a minute that she will ever give up on Extremis); I could talk about the fun I anticipate watching Sal Kennedy and Dum-Dum Dugan interact in the issues to come.
But really there was just one thing that caught my eye in a big way here.
Now, I've never been in the military. All I know about the military is what I see in the mass media, really. And some of the changes Stark implements seem reasonable--the suggestion box, for one. Others, however...
::takes deep breath::
OMFG a daycare center on the SHIELD Helicarrier?
Even if (as Sal says) "the day care center's only open when we're in port. We chopper the rug-rats off-board the minute we activate," that's really not what I'd consider safe.
What possible guarantee is there that the Helicarrier won't be attacked while it's in port?
And even if that never happens, it still reduces mission response time if the ship can't leave port until the kids are removed.
This just seems like a bad idea all around. Maybe set something up on the ground, but on the ship? Good gods, what was Tony thinking?
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Ms. Marvel #13 [Spoilers]
So...now that Civil War is over, does that mean I can start liking Ms. Marvel again? The character, I mean.
The cover image is pretty creepy and off-putting (might be the lack of eyes), so I wouldn't have picked up the book in a store based on that.
Luckily I pre-order them and get them in the mail.
But there was quite a bit to like in the actual book, and I don't specifically mean Carol punching Iron Man (although that was fun). No, what I liked was watching Carol--now that the War is done--reevaluate her priorities. Her lack of patience with both Sarah Day and Iron Man (best eye-rolling I've seen in comics recently!). Her negotiations with Tony regarding what she needs to be an effective leader, and the fact that he's willing to give them to her. Although I suspect that this will only go so far--I foresee a lot of power struggles in the pages of Mighty Avengers, and I figure that things will go swimmingly as long as Carol makes the decisions either that Tony agrees with or that he doesn't consider important. He's never been much of a delegator, and we've seen how he can be when he's convinced that he knows best. But that's probably a discussion for some other post.
I guess what I'm seeing that I like is movement--that Carol is seeing the problem with her previous life plan/strategy and is (at least at this point) making a genuine effort to change it. She obviously thinks she made some bad decisions during Civil War, and it'll be interesting to see what she does about that now.
The cover image is pretty creepy and off-putting (might be the lack of eyes), so I wouldn't have picked up the book in a store based on that.
Luckily I pre-order them and get them in the mail.
But there was quite a bit to like in the actual book, and I don't specifically mean Carol punching Iron Man (although that was fun). No, what I liked was watching Carol--now that the War is done--reevaluate her priorities. Her lack of patience with both Sarah Day and Iron Man (best eye-rolling I've seen in comics recently!). Her negotiations with Tony regarding what she needs to be an effective leader, and the fact that he's willing to give them to her. Although I suspect that this will only go so far--I foresee a lot of power struggles in the pages of Mighty Avengers, and I figure that things will go swimmingly as long as Carol makes the decisions either that Tony agrees with or that he doesn't consider important. He's never been much of a delegator, and we've seen how he can be when he's convinced that he knows best. But that's probably a discussion for some other post.
I guess what I'm seeing that I like is movement--that Carol is seeing the problem with her previous life plan/strategy and is (at least at this point) making a genuine effort to change it. She obviously thinks she made some bad decisions during Civil War, and it'll be interesting to see what she does about that now.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
As for my get list
Dropped: Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.
Waiting for the trade: Justice League of America.
Picked up: Every damn Marvel book out there with "Avengers" in the title. I think there are going to be five now.
Waiting for the trade: Justice League of America.
Picked up: Every damn Marvel book out there with "Avengers" in the title. I think there are going to be five now.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Nit-picky Winter Soldier ramblings
So I was perusing the Captain America Message Board over at Comicboards, as I do occasionally. And I posted a reply to a thread, as I do very rarely--but someone had asked a question, wondering how old the Winter Soldier was, and I realized that I had figured that out at some point from the comics. So, because the Comicboards posts disappear pretty quickly, I'm noting my logic here, so I can find it easily:
I think I'm pretty close to right, there. I didn't count any of the time that's passed since he appeared in Captain America a few years ago, because that's comic time and it's very flexible (if forty real-time years equals ten comic-time years, I wouldn't begin to guess how much time has passed in the Marvel Universe since even House of M happened) and therefore not at all helpful in figuring this stuff out. The historical info in Cap's book, though, that's got specific dates, that's as solid as you can find in comics.
I'm not sure why I noticed this in the first place, except that it means that Bucky was the Winter Soldier for at least twice as long as he was Cap's sidekick, probably longer. He's got more experience in that role, he's spent more time in it, he has more memories (presumably) of that life.
Well, he was (I think) 20 when he disappeared (the 65th Anniversary Special states that he had just turned 19 in April of 1944, and according to Cap #8, Karpov's sub found him in April of 1945), so that's the starting point (Cap would have been about 24 then, since Cap #12 says that he's 4 years older).
After he was revived they kept him active for about three straight years (June '54 through June '57, from Cap #11) before they started keeping him in stasis in between missions. So that makes 23.
When Karpov was at the end of his career, he took WS as his personal body guard starting in September '83. We can probably assume he was out of stasis for all of the time Karpov was using him, because he wouldn't be much of a bodyguard otherwise. He's returned to stasis in August of '88, after Karpov's death, so that's almost five more years. That makes 28.
Other than that it's hard to say because he would have aged in bits and pieces when on missions, and held in stasis otherwise, so it would depend on the number of missions and how long they took. Most were probably fairly short (maybe a few weeks?) although didn't he say he had been out for a period of months trying to get to Wolverine? (Can't locate the pertinent issue of Wolverine at the moment, so I'm not sure.) So he could be older than Cap, although unless it's specifically stated there's no way to be sure. I'd certainly place him at least late 20s-early 30s.
I think I'm pretty close to right, there. I didn't count any of the time that's passed since he appeared in Captain America a few years ago, because that's comic time and it's very flexible (if forty real-time years equals ten comic-time years, I wouldn't begin to guess how much time has passed in the Marvel Universe since even House of M happened) and therefore not at all helpful in figuring this stuff out. The historical info in Cap's book, though, that's got specific dates, that's as solid as you can find in comics.
I'm not sure why I noticed this in the first place, except that it means that Bucky was the Winter Soldier for at least twice as long as he was Cap's sidekick, probably longer. He's got more experience in that role, he's spent more time in it, he has more memories (presumably) of that life.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
World War Hulk?
So, do I need to think about getting the World War Hulk stuff in order to keep up with things in Marvel? As far as I can tell, the only books I get that'll touch on it will be Iron Man and maybe Fantastic Four. I hadn't planned on getting anything not already on my list, since the Hulk has never interested me much (maybe someone could tell me why he should?), and since I had hoped to reduce my comic spending. (I might have been tempted by WWH: Frontline if I weren't a bit annoyed with Sally Floyd at the moment...)
You know, big comic events aren't really all that exciting when there are so many of them, coming right on top of each other. You kind of need an established reality before the out-of-the-ordinary events can have much impact.
You know, big comic events aren't really all that exciting when there are so many of them, coming right on top of each other. You kind of need an established reality before the out-of-the-ordinary events can have much impact.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
When Simon Met Carol
Well, these days Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel and Simon Williams/Wonder Man are the best of friends (at least), hanging out together, battling villains, and all that. Simon is more than happy to work with Carol, trusting her judgment and her abilities. But it wasn't always so. Back in the 70s, around the time of Avengers 171-2, poor Simon found the brash Ms. Marvel a bit alarming.
At this time Simon was with the Avengers, who were helping him readjust to life among the living. He had been in suspended animation for a number of years, since the mid-1960s in fact, and had only recently come out of it. Not only did he have a rather understandable fear of death at the time, he had also missed out on pretty much the entire early feminist movement.
Ms. Marvel was a relatively new hero who had only begun making her mark. When she showed up to join them in battling Ultron, most of the Avengers were only too happy to have the help.
Carol from the start had been painted (with a rather broad brush) very specifically as a character with strong feminist sensibilities. Here she's contrasted with the Wasp and the Scarlet Witch, both of whom were apparently considered more traditional female characters.
So the fight with Ulton went well enough, mostly, and Carol accompanied the team on another battle, this one against Attuma. Just in case no one had picked up on it before, here we see that Simon was pretty freaked out at the notion of a heroine beating up on villains.
Also in the same comic, bonus panel of Hawkeye being a jerk!*
So Simon, who's been hanging back from the fight due to the aforementioned fear of death, sees that Carol is charging into battle. The sight of a woman going where he himself has been afraid to go is too much for Simon, and he enters the fray. Unfortunately, he isn't really thinking beyond his sense of chivalry, and ends up being less than helpful.
Of course all ends well, the battle is won, and the Avengers and Ms. Marvel return to their respective lives. But not before Carol takes the time to hit on Simon (having apparently forgiven his lapse in judgment).
I read these books, along with Ms. Marvel's own title, when I was a kid. At the time Carol's rhetoric didn't sound particularly odd--reading it now, of course, a lot of it seems pretty over the top.
It also occurs to me now to wonder why it seemed necessary at the time to differentiate between Carol-the-Feminist-Heroine and the Wasp and Scarlet Witch. Simon seems to focus on the physical combat thing, but the Avengers had had women in the group before who were skilled in fighting--Mantis, Moondragon, and of course the Black Widow, although I don't think she came on the scene until after Wonder Man "died." Certainly in the early Silver Age, Jan and Wanda were often typical Stan Lee women, flighty or frivolous or in need of rescue, but by the late 70s (when these books were published), both were fully capable of taking care of themselves in a fight. (I imagine that either one of them would have given Simon a verbal smack if they'd had any idea of the way he felt about women heroes. It just didn't come out until he saw Carol, who reminded him of his own perceived inadequacies.)
* A man out of his time, Simon's attitudes were somewhat forgivable. As for Hawkeye, not so much.
At this time Simon was with the Avengers, who were helping him readjust to life among the living. He had been in suspended animation for a number of years, since the mid-1960s in fact, and had only recently come out of it. Not only did he have a rather understandable fear of death at the time, he had also missed out on pretty much the entire early feminist movement.
Ms. Marvel was a relatively new hero who had only begun making her mark. When she showed up to join them in battling Ultron, most of the Avengers were only too happy to have the help.
Carol from the start had been painted (with a rather broad brush) very specifically as a character with strong feminist sensibilities. Here she's contrasted with the Wasp and the Scarlet Witch, both of whom were apparently considered more traditional female characters.
So the fight with Ulton went well enough, mostly, and Carol accompanied the team on another battle, this one against Attuma. Just in case no one had picked up on it before, here we see that Simon was pretty freaked out at the notion of a heroine beating up on villains.
Also in the same comic, bonus panel of Hawkeye being a jerk!*
So Simon, who's been hanging back from the fight due to the aforementioned fear of death, sees that Carol is charging into battle. The sight of a woman going where he himself has been afraid to go is too much for Simon, and he enters the fray. Unfortunately, he isn't really thinking beyond his sense of chivalry, and ends up being less than helpful.
Of course all ends well, the battle is won, and the Avengers and Ms. Marvel return to their respective lives. But not before Carol takes the time to hit on Simon (having apparently forgiven his lapse in judgment).
I read these books, along with Ms. Marvel's own title, when I was a kid. At the time Carol's rhetoric didn't sound particularly odd--reading it now, of course, a lot of it seems pretty over the top.
It also occurs to me now to wonder why it seemed necessary at the time to differentiate between Carol-the-Feminist-Heroine and the Wasp and Scarlet Witch. Simon seems to focus on the physical combat thing, but the Avengers had had women in the group before who were skilled in fighting--Mantis, Moondragon, and of course the Black Widow, although I don't think she came on the scene until after Wonder Man "died." Certainly in the early Silver Age, Jan and Wanda were often typical Stan Lee women, flighty or frivolous or in need of rescue, but by the late 70s (when these books were published), both were fully capable of taking care of themselves in a fight. (I imagine that either one of them would have given Simon a verbal smack if they'd had any idea of the way he felt about women heroes. It just didn't come out until he saw Carol, who reminded him of his own perceived inadequacies.)
* A man out of his time, Simon's attitudes were somewhat forgivable. As for Hawkeye, not so much.
I know I disappoint you.
Or so I must conclude from some of the terms folks use to reach my site.
Yesterday I was googled using the following:
ms marvel beating
ms marvel thong
supergirl spanking
Okay, so I get "ms marvel thong" all the time. Can't really argue with that if you look at her costume.
And we've certainly seen a lot of "ms marvel beating" up various villains, as well as at least one ally, recently.
But how I got on the list for "supergirl spanking" I have no idea.
(Okay, actually, yes, I do. Has to do with people searching with "or" instead of "and." I think I figured that one out the first time I ever used a search engine. Otherwise those folks looking for the Ms. Marvel butt shots wouldn't find themselves reading this instead.)
One of these days I'm going to write a whole thing about search terms, because I'm endlessly amused by some of what I find when I look at what people have been looking for and found me instead. (Day before yesterday it was "trapped in a mascot suit." I don't think I want to know.)
Yesterday I was googled using the following:
ms marvel beating
ms marvel thong
supergirl spanking
Okay, so I get "ms marvel thong" all the time. Can't really argue with that if you look at her costume.
And we've certainly seen a lot of "ms marvel beating" up various villains, as well as at least one ally, recently.
But how I got on the list for "supergirl spanking" I have no idea.
(Okay, actually, yes, I do. Has to do with people searching with "or" instead of "and." I think I figured that one out the first time I ever used a search engine. Otherwise those folks looking for the Ms. Marvel butt shots wouldn't find themselves reading this instead.)
One of these days I'm going to write a whole thing about search terms, because I'm endlessly amused by some of what I find when I look at what people have been looking for and found me instead. (Day before yesterday it was "trapped in a mascot suit." I don't think I want to know.)
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Late comics, filler comics, etc.
Back when I was a kid, I don't recall comics being late, ever, really. They may have been occasionally (chances are I wouldn't have noticed a week or two of delay), but if so it wasn't by much. That doesn't mean, necessarily, that late comics weren't a problem for the companies--but what we the readers usually got, instead of months of waiting, were fill-in stories.
I was reminded of this while reading over some old Invaders books from the 70s that one of my daughters came across. The fill-in stories in that series were not new stories--they were reprints of actual 1940s stories. I think I thought that was kind of neat at the time--they were still stories about the Human Torch or the Sub-Mariner, after all--although I would certainly have preferred a story more contemporary with the regular storyline.
Of course that wasn't an option for most titles, and I remember, specifically, reading fill-in issues of the Avengers. You couldn't always tell that that was what they were (twelve-year-olds don't pay all that much attention to writers or artists, or at least I didn't), although if they showed up in the middle of a longer storyline that gave it away. And as long as the same characters were featured, and as long as the story was new, I was pretty much okay with this. 'Course I'm not twelve anymore.
So I'm going to give up that part of my old-fan grumpiness, the part that says "in my day we didn't have these delays--if a comic was running late we'd get a rushed fill-in issue that was at least a new story, and we liked it that way!" Because I'm not sure I would like it that way anymore.
Mainly because, now, I don't go to the store every week to get my comics. I order them online, a couple of months in advance. Mostly I get the same comics, but occasionally I order something unusual, if there's a guest star or something particularly interesting going on in that issue. A fill-in issue would throw all this off. It could make me miss the issue I want. That would be sad. (I'm guessing it'd also be problematic for stores if they ordered extra of Far-Out Adventures #34 because General Nuisance was guesting, and then it turned out that #34 was a fill-in and General Nuisance didn't show up until #35.)
I will keep the rest of the grumpiness, because you never know when it's going to come in handy.
Mind you, I don't like the delays either.
I was reminded of this while reading over some old Invaders books from the 70s that one of my daughters came across. The fill-in stories in that series were not new stories--they were reprints of actual 1940s stories. I think I thought that was kind of neat at the time--they were still stories about the Human Torch or the Sub-Mariner, after all--although I would certainly have preferred a story more contemporary with the regular storyline.
Of course that wasn't an option for most titles, and I remember, specifically, reading fill-in issues of the Avengers. You couldn't always tell that that was what they were (twelve-year-olds don't pay all that much attention to writers or artists, or at least I didn't), although if they showed up in the middle of a longer storyline that gave it away. And as long as the same characters were featured, and as long as the story was new, I was pretty much okay with this. 'Course I'm not twelve anymore.
So I'm going to give up that part of my old-fan grumpiness, the part that says "in my day we didn't have these delays--if a comic was running late we'd get a rushed fill-in issue that was at least a new story, and we liked it that way!" Because I'm not sure I would like it that way anymore.
Mainly because, now, I don't go to the store every week to get my comics. I order them online, a couple of months in advance. Mostly I get the same comics, but occasionally I order something unusual, if there's a guest star or something particularly interesting going on in that issue. A fill-in issue would throw all this off. It could make me miss the issue I want. That would be sad. (I'm guessing it'd also be problematic for stores if they ordered extra of Far-Out Adventures #34 because General Nuisance was guesting, and then it turned out that #34 was a fill-in and General Nuisance didn't show up until #35.)
I will keep the rest of the grumpiness, because you never know when it's going to come in handy.
Mind you, I don't like the delays either.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Who's next? [Spoilers? Yeah, right!]
I haven't seen Captain America #25 yet, won't for another couple of weeks, so it would have been pretty pointless for me to attempt to remain unspoiled. I know roughly what goes on there, it'd be hard not to. But clearly I'm not going to write about a comic I haven't read yet.
What I will do is cast my vote for who, if anyone, ought to take Cap's place during his "vacation."
The Falcon.
Seriously, he's the logical choice. And the Falcon is awesome! (And I don't think I'm just saying that because, way back in the 70s when I started reading Cap's book, the words on the cover were Captain America and the Falcon.)
What I will do is cast my vote for who, if anyone, ought to take Cap's place during his "vacation."
The Falcon.
Seriously, he's the logical choice. And the Falcon is awesome! (And I don't think I'm just saying that because, way back in the 70s when I started reading Cap's book, the words on the cover were Captain America and the Falcon.)
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Ms. Marvel #12 [Spoilers]
I've always liked Ms. Marvel ever since I was a teenager buying her solo title back in the post-Silver Age.
Her current title?
Well, actually, I'm still enjoying Carol's search. Carol has, for a long time, been portayed as someone with feet of clay, and that's all right. (I am glad they haven't been touching on her alcoholism--that's a well-beaten horse and her current issues are far more interesting in any case.) Civil War may have sidelined her story somewhat, but it's still there--her attempts to become a better hero, a noble goal that, it's become apparent, she isn't guaranteed to be up to in the long run.
She's human. She isn't--not always--a nice person, or even a good person. She tends to take a narrow focus and has, thus far, tended to confuse the trappings of herodom with its essence. Didn't it strike anyone else as strange that one of the first things she did on her journey toward self-improvement was to sign up a publicity agent? To become better known rather than better?
I'm sure that Carol has additional reasons for wanting to do this (you know, things like "helping humanity" :)) but the fame, the star power, is something she wants as well. And that's not horrible--maybe a little shallow, but not horrible, and certainly understandable.
(And although I'm sure as well that she has more substantial reasons for taking the pro-reg side in CW, the fact that registering as a hero also provides her with name recognition and societal approval would be a plus in her eyes--and the "official" status of registered hero would appeal to her a great deal.)
So I'm actually looking forward to seeing where this story goes in the months to come. I think it could be interesting, both in terms of Carol's personal journey and in terms of what it means to be a hero in the Marvel Universe.
But enough of that. A few thoughts on this issue in specific:
Her current title?
Well, actually, I'm still enjoying Carol's search. Carol has, for a long time, been portayed as someone with feet of clay, and that's all right. (I am glad they haven't been touching on her alcoholism--that's a well-beaten horse and her current issues are far more interesting in any case.) Civil War may have sidelined her story somewhat, but it's still there--her attempts to become a better hero, a noble goal that, it's become apparent, she isn't guaranteed to be up to in the long run.
She's human. She isn't--not always--a nice person, or even a good person. She tends to take a narrow focus and has, thus far, tended to confuse the trappings of herodom with its essence. Didn't it strike anyone else as strange that one of the first things she did on her journey toward self-improvement was to sign up a publicity agent? To become better known rather than better?
I'm sure that Carol has additional reasons for wanting to do this (you know, things like "helping humanity" :)) but the fame, the star power, is something she wants as well. And that's not horrible--maybe a little shallow, but not horrible, and certainly understandable.
(And although I'm sure as well that she has more substantial reasons for taking the pro-reg side in CW, the fact that registering as a hero also provides her with name recognition and societal approval would be a plus in her eyes--and the "official" status of registered hero would appeal to her a great deal.)
So I'm actually looking forward to seeing where this story goes in the months to come. I think it could be interesting, both in terms of Carol's personal journey and in terms of what it means to be a hero in the Marvel Universe.
But enough of that. A few thoughts on this issue in specific:
- Holy crap, poor Arana! Since kids in comics are an interest of mine, I've been watching this story unfold with some interest. I don't know a lot about Arana, other than that I gather she went out on her own before registering, and since then has been receiving some training from Carol (and possibly from others). Thought #1 here: taking on a "sidekick" or youthful trainee is a responsibility, and may not be something Carol is willing to do. (Hell, I wouldn't do it if I were a superhero.)
Thought #2: Anya's dad knows, I'm sure, that this sort of thing could happen to his daughter regardless of whether she's on her own or out with another hero. In theory she should be safer if she's not alone. On the other hand, if she's hanging with Carol she's likely to be seeing a higher grade of supervillain than she may be used to. That's probably something to consider when pairing up a trainee with a registered hero. - Carol healing from the zombifying effect--um, interesting? (Actually not really. We'll see if anything interesting comes of this in the future.)
- I'm a little disappointed to see the potential sinsterization of Sarah Day. Why can't she be just an annoying PR person, hm? Why does she have to have ulterior motives? Grrr.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Lives of the Lovelorn: The Original Human Torch
Back in the '70s, one of my favorite titles was The Invaders.
It was a very different sort of comic, taking place as it did during World War II, featuring a team consisting of Captain America and Bucky, the original Human Torch and Toro, and the Sub-mariner, although other characters (such as Spitfire) joined and departed over time. The book was written with much more of a 70s than a 40s sensibility, but it took place outside of normal Marvel continuity, which made it a great novelty.
But it was also a great read! The twelve-year-old recently came across my old Invaders stash in the basement, not a full run but a decent one, and I've re-read them over the past few days. The book had a combination of action and melodrama that appealed very much to me as a teen, and the art was unlike that in anything else I was reading at the time.
The bit of melodrama I'm focusing on here today has to do with the original android Human Torch, Jim Hammond, who in Roy Thomas' Invaders was portrayed as very human--emotional, insecure, hot-tempered (well, that last was a characteristic he had since his creation in the 40s)--and that was nowhere more apparent than in his relationship with Jacqueline Falsworth, who was to become Spitfire.
As is not unusual in comic books, the Torch met Jacquie in the process of rescuing her, specifically from the dastardly Baron Blood. Once that had been accomplished, the Torch drove the shaken young woman home, and they started to get to know one another.
Once home, Jacquie introduced the Torch to her father, Lord Falsworth, also known during the previous World War as the original Union Jack. A few battles later and the Invaders have been invited to dinner at the Falsworths'. The Torch, however, is not particularly enjoying his meal.
This is pretty much the same sort of attitude held by the Vision during the 70s in his pursuit of the Scarlet Witch--unsurprising at the time because contemporary Marvel continuity held that the Vision was the original Torch, in body at least.
In any case, although the Torch is jealous of Jacquie's obvious interest in Captain America--something probably more akin to a schoolgirl crush than anything else--he doesn't make any moves of his own because he feels he isn't worthy. But he maintains his own interest in her. And when Jacquie is injured in another attack by Baron Blood, his concern makes this apparent to at least one teammate.
The vampire's attack has done more than drain Jacquie of her blood--it has also altered the blood that is left, so that her blood type keeps changing. The doctors are at a loss as to what to do, but the Torch believes that his synthetic blood could be the answer.
Fortunately for Jacquie, the Torch is correct, and pretty soon her blood as been replaced almost in its entirety with his own. She recovers quickly, although she's a bit groggy:
(Don't you love the Silver Age? :))
Soon enough, Jacquie is fully alert and aware, and a good thing too as it turns out.
And we have an origin!
And an epilogue...
As it happens, this potential triangle was never resolved further to any extent, at least not that I remember (although, lacking a full collection, I may have missed something). There were very occasional mentions of the Torch's unrequited interest in Spitfire. Cap, for his part, never had any interest in her at all other than as a friend and teammate. I have no idea whether Jacquie ever became aware, during the original run of the book, of the Torch's interest in her at all.
One thing that strikes me is how young Jacquie is in this book--so different from her portrayal in the more recent New Invaders title. (I also enjoyed her appearances in Captain America last year, and I'm hoping that she shows up somewhere else soon.) It's no wonder she was so impressed with Cap, so oblivious to the Torch's almost-unadmitted interest in her. And now that I've reread the old Invaders, I'd like to see a more modern treatment of the concept. So if you hear anything, let me know. :)
It was a very different sort of comic, taking place as it did during World War II, featuring a team consisting of Captain America and Bucky, the original Human Torch and Toro, and the Sub-mariner, although other characters (such as Spitfire) joined and departed over time. The book was written with much more of a 70s than a 40s sensibility, but it took place outside of normal Marvel continuity, which made it a great novelty.
But it was also a great read! The twelve-year-old recently came across my old Invaders stash in the basement, not a full run but a decent one, and I've re-read them over the past few days. The book had a combination of action and melodrama that appealed very much to me as a teen, and the art was unlike that in anything else I was reading at the time.
The bit of melodrama I'm focusing on here today has to do with the original android Human Torch, Jim Hammond, who in Roy Thomas' Invaders was portrayed as very human--emotional, insecure, hot-tempered (well, that last was a characteristic he had since his creation in the 40s)--and that was nowhere more apparent than in his relationship with Jacqueline Falsworth, who was to become Spitfire.
As is not unusual in comic books, the Torch met Jacquie in the process of rescuing her, specifically from the dastardly Baron Blood. Once that had been accomplished, the Torch drove the shaken young woman home, and they started to get to know one another.
Once home, Jacquie introduced the Torch to her father, Lord Falsworth, also known during the previous World War as the original Union Jack. A few battles later and the Invaders have been invited to dinner at the Falsworths'. The Torch, however, is not particularly enjoying his meal.
This is pretty much the same sort of attitude held by the Vision during the 70s in his pursuit of the Scarlet Witch--unsurprising at the time because contemporary Marvel continuity held that the Vision was the original Torch, in body at least.
In any case, although the Torch is jealous of Jacquie's obvious interest in Captain America--something probably more akin to a schoolgirl crush than anything else--he doesn't make any moves of his own because he feels he isn't worthy. But he maintains his own interest in her. And when Jacquie is injured in another attack by Baron Blood, his concern makes this apparent to at least one teammate.
The vampire's attack has done more than drain Jacquie of her blood--it has also altered the blood that is left, so that her blood type keeps changing. The doctors are at a loss as to what to do, but the Torch believes that his synthetic blood could be the answer.
Fortunately for Jacquie, the Torch is correct, and pretty soon her blood as been replaced almost in its entirety with his own. She recovers quickly, although she's a bit groggy:
(Don't you love the Silver Age? :))
Soon enough, Jacquie is fully alert and aware, and a good thing too as it turns out.
And we have an origin!
And an epilogue...
As it happens, this potential triangle was never resolved further to any extent, at least not that I remember (although, lacking a full collection, I may have missed something). There were very occasional mentions of the Torch's unrequited interest in Spitfire. Cap, for his part, never had any interest in her at all other than as a friend and teammate. I have no idea whether Jacquie ever became aware, during the original run of the book, of the Torch's interest in her at all.
One thing that strikes me is how young Jacquie is in this book--so different from her portrayal in the more recent New Invaders title. (I also enjoyed her appearances in Captain America last year, and I'm hoping that she shows up somewhere else soon.) It's no wonder she was so impressed with Cap, so oblivious to the Torch's almost-unadmitted interest in her. And now that I've reread the old Invaders, I'd like to see a more modern treatment of the concept. So if you hear anything, let me know. :)
Friday, March 02, 2007
She-Hulk #16 [Spoilers]
I always look forward to She-Hulk each month. I don't tend to overanalyze it, but I do enjoy it most of the time, and I enjoyed it this time as well. One would have to enjoy whatever one picked up after Civil War 7, and She-Hulk made an excellent palate cleanser--a blend of fighting and humor, and a potentially creepy surprise ending.
But I'm not going to talk about that right now. I'm going to talk about Jen's sex life. Just like the rest of the comic internet, half of whom are claiming that Jen is just something that sounds a little like Slott, plain and simple, and that's either really hot or really disgusting depending on who's writing, while the other half seem to think that her behavior is a way of acting out other issues because when a woman has sex with multiple partners it has to be a sign of something wrong with her self-image, and my guess is that's where the story is leading as well, especially taken in combination with last issue's whole thing with Doc Samson wanting to talk to her about just that.
This issue had her flirting with Wolverine, who wasn't interested and turned her down pretty rudely.
Last issue ended with her in bed with Clay Quartermain, presumably a one-night-stand kind of thing given the moves she was making on Wolverine this issue.
Other than that...well, when was the last time we saw any evidence of Jen in the sack? The last time would have been with John Jameson, or at least we can assume that they did it because they were married. Before that (and I'm not looking at my trades right now so I could easily be missing something) the last time I recall was at the beginning of the first trade, when she was bringing her model friend to stay over at Avengers Mansion. And that was, at least, an informal dating relationship if not a serious one--she didn't seem to be seeing anyone else during the time she was seeing him. There was some discussion regarding her behavior just prior to being tossed out of the mansion that seemed to indicate that she brought her boyfriends back to the mansion regularly; well, according to some book I can't locate at the minute--a Spider-Man, I think--so did Wolverine when he joined the group, and no one seems to be complaining about that. (BTW, Jen was asked to leave the mansion because of her misuse of team resources, basically throwing too many parties on the property. Nothing to do with invited overnight guests apart from the security issue.) In any case, once she took the job at Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzburg & Holliway, we really didn't see much evidence of a non-platonic social life at all until just very recently.
And while, as I said, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be used as a sign of something else wrong in her life, I really don't find it odd that a woman who has just had a serious relationship break up under rather weird circumstances would be instinctively trying to reclaim her sexuality, to regain an important part of her life that had been pretty much out of her own control for quite a while. Not saying that it's necessarily the healthiest way of dealing with that, just that it's not an unusual reaction. If the storyline says that her very recent behavior is indicative of something she needs therapy for, well, so be it. If it tries to claim that every non-monogamous sexual relationship she's ever had is a sign of that as well, that I'll have a problem with.
But I'm not going to talk about that right now. I'm going to talk about Jen's sex life. Just like the rest of the comic internet, half of whom are claiming that Jen is just something that sounds a little like Slott, plain and simple, and that's either really hot or really disgusting depending on who's writing, while the other half seem to think that her behavior is a way of acting out other issues because when a woman has sex with multiple partners it has to be a sign of something wrong with her self-image, and my guess is that's where the story is leading as well, especially taken in combination with last issue's whole thing with Doc Samson wanting to talk to her about just that.
This issue had her flirting with Wolverine, who wasn't interested and turned her down pretty rudely.
Last issue ended with her in bed with Clay Quartermain, presumably a one-night-stand kind of thing given the moves she was making on Wolverine this issue.
Other than that...well, when was the last time we saw any evidence of Jen in the sack? The last time would have been with John Jameson, or at least we can assume that they did it because they were married. Before that (and I'm not looking at my trades right now so I could easily be missing something) the last time I recall was at the beginning of the first trade, when she was bringing her model friend to stay over at Avengers Mansion. And that was, at least, an informal dating relationship if not a serious one--she didn't seem to be seeing anyone else during the time she was seeing him. There was some discussion regarding her behavior just prior to being tossed out of the mansion that seemed to indicate that she brought her boyfriends back to the mansion regularly; well, according to some book I can't locate at the minute--a Spider-Man, I think--so did Wolverine when he joined the group, and no one seems to be complaining about that. (BTW, Jen was asked to leave the mansion because of her misuse of team resources, basically throwing too many parties on the property. Nothing to do with invited overnight guests apart from the security issue.) In any case, once she took the job at Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzburg & Holliway, we really didn't see much evidence of a non-platonic social life at all until just very recently.
And while, as I said, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be used as a sign of something else wrong in her life, I really don't find it odd that a woman who has just had a serious relationship break up under rather weird circumstances would be instinctively trying to reclaim her sexuality, to regain an important part of her life that had been pretty much out of her own control for quite a while. Not saying that it's necessarily the healthiest way of dealing with that, just that it's not an unusual reaction. If the storyline says that her very recent behavior is indicative of something she needs therapy for, well, so be it. If it tries to claim that every non-monogamous sexual relationship she's ever had is a sign of that as well, that I'll have a problem with.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Civil War #7 [Spoilers]
You know, I haven't minded the whole Civil War thing all that much apart from the delays it's caused. Some interesting stuff in there. But I really didn't care for this issue. Why's that?
* When Cap gets out of jail, he's going to have a whole bunch of folks pretty pissed off at him. He decides what's right and wrong for everyone? That's not going to sit well with some of the anti-reg side. It'll be interesting to see what happens that next time he's called on to lead a group--are they going to trust him, knowing that he's capable of abandoning the team in mid-battle like that?
* And the reason for his change of heart also seemed questionable--Cap never seemed one for situational ethics before, yet here he is deciding that the anti-reg side is wrong because a few individuals seem to be on Iron Man's side? (And surely he's seen the polls indicating that the pro-reg side is favored by--what was it in the Winter Soldier Christmas book?--60 per cent or something like that? That didn't faze him but this does?) What's right depends on the popular point of view? Cap has a stronger personal sense of right and wrong than that.
* Oh, and Iron Man? Those last three pages? Creepy. Smug. His treatment of Maria Hill just underlines it--sure, he'd want to twist the knife a little after the way she dealt with the New Avengers, but the Tony I remember wouldn't have done it, he'd have been professional about it. Also, that whole "ends justify the means" thing he's been riding all through the Civil War is bound to bite him in the ass, and hopefully soon.
* When Cap gets out of jail, he's going to have a whole bunch of folks pretty pissed off at him. He decides what's right and wrong for everyone? That's not going to sit well with some of the anti-reg side. It'll be interesting to see what happens that next time he's called on to lead a group--are they going to trust him, knowing that he's capable of abandoning the team in mid-battle like that?
* And the reason for his change of heart also seemed questionable--Cap never seemed one for situational ethics before, yet here he is deciding that the anti-reg side is wrong because a few individuals seem to be on Iron Man's side? (And surely he's seen the polls indicating that the pro-reg side is favored by--what was it in the Winter Soldier Christmas book?--60 per cent or something like that? That didn't faze him but this does?) What's right depends on the popular point of view? Cap has a stronger personal sense of right and wrong than that.
* Oh, and Iron Man? Those last three pages? Creepy. Smug. His treatment of Maria Hill just underlines it--sure, he'd want to twist the knife a little after the way she dealt with the New Avengers, but the Tony I remember wouldn't have done it, he'd have been professional about it. Also, that whole "ends justify the means" thing he's been riding all through the Civil War is bound to bite him in the ass, and hopefully soon.
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